OLD HOMESTEAD 



turned to grass as soon as it could be done, and the garden 

 made and planted. Corn and potato planting next came on. 



The potatoes were generally planted first, on old, mellow 

 ground, and, where the ground was rich, brought a great yield, 

 if they had the good luck not to be struck by rust or rot. I 

 have helped pick up potatoes on the side hill back of the cooper- 

 shop which yielded at the rate of four hundred bushels to the 

 acre. They were big, red, coarse ones, of which I do not now 

 recall the name. Some of them weighed four pounds. They 

 were worth six cents per bushel, and no market. Most of them 

 were fed to cattle and hogs, after being boiled and mixed with a 

 little grain, pumpkin and corn-meal. For our table use, ''Pink 

 Eyes" and a long, white potato, called "Bone Potato," were 

 the favorites. 



We were not in a corn country, neither was our land corn 

 land; but we always had from two to four acres of pretty good, 

 small, yellow corn of an early variety, which made excellent 

 meal for table use and good feed for cattle. Forty bushels per 

 acre was a big crop. A western farmer would not think that 

 number of acres worth mentioning, but we were very proud of 

 it and made a great fuss getting the corn land ready. At first 

 we used to think that only newly cleared land or old plowed 

 ground would do for corn, but later discovered that it would do 

 quite well on sod. The corn land was usually the last of the 

 spring plowing. Good corn, however, we could raise only by 

 manuring in the hill. This was a slow, tedious job, but it 

 brought good corn. A compost for the hills was prepared by 

 mixing the soil of the hog-pen and the guano of the hen-house 

 with a quantity of horse-manure and ashes. The horse-manure 

 was the principal item, and was thrown under the big hog- 

 house, which stood up from the ground, a year in advance, to 



65 



